From Bolivia, May 23, 2002
(The post below is from a group email I sent to my friends and family while traveling years ago. I include it in this blog as an archive to my travels. It remains in the the raw state that I originally sent it, foolishness of younger years intact, typos and sics untouched.)
in la paz, bolivia now....again. did a couple days hitchhiking around the lauca national park in the north of chile. crazy truck drivers and vacationing chilenos mostly, all friendly. high altitudes (over 4000 meters) and lots of llamas and vicuñas (a smaller, wilder more delicate species similar to the llama). stayed in a little pueblo called parinacota with only 6 families, population 22. no heat nor bathrooms and electricity for lights for only a couple hours in the evening. nothing like a windblown outhouse to keep it real...
la paz is a hectic city, reminds me of bangkok. indians trying to sell you anything they can, gangs of masked shoeshiners, hectic streets full of mini-van buses and cars doing all they can to run you over. and of course the wonderous smells in the streets...
i´m staying in a hotel right around the corner from the witches market. anything you could ever want to find for your superstitious ailments is here. powders, herbs, potions. want luck for your new home? no problem, just pick up a dried llama foetus in the market and bury it under your home (don´t worry mom, the foetus is in the mail....). and there´s a peculiar stuffed fox hanging from a telephone pole that i´m not too sure about.
it´s no wonder my stomach has been a bit uneasy. i´ve been walking the streets like a blaoted goon. the more conventional may believe its amoebas, in which case i stopped by a pharmacy and picked up a single pill that´s supposed to take care of the situation. feeling better, but we´ll see. i personally believe the stench of the streets has entered my body and is now trying to find its way out. if its not better by tomorrow i´m headed to the witches market...
probably off tomorrow to hike the grand huayna potosí. two days for the 6088 meter peak (whats that, nearly 20000 feet?) and views of la paz and lake titicaca. then returning to la paz for saturday and the gran poder festival, a pagan event involving costumes, scary masks, dancing in the streets and unknown amounts of local moonshine. somebosy has to do it....
until then,
j
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